Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind
by malkavsdevoted
Summary: BleachNaruto xover What if when the Shiki Fuujin consumed Yondaime and Kyuubi it took Naruto with it? What would become of Naruto if the only life he had was death?
1. Chapter 1

Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind

Konohagakure

Lady Death took many to her bed that night when the Kyuubi no Kitsune came upon the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Like a thunderbolt from the cold clear sky it struck rendering unto dust all who crossed it's path. All those save one. A light in the shadow cast by the Bijuu. A man who had dedicated his life to protecting this village and all those who called it home.

Kazama Arashi, the Yondaime, the Yellow Flash of Konoha.

Outside the tenebrous woods known only as the Forest of Death – a name bought tonight in sanguine currency – on a grassy plain that only hours ago had known the laughter of children hard at play he stood before it. Ash darkened hair lay limply above battered features but of all those who saw him that night they would only remember those eyes. Brilliant sapphirine orbs that held within them a purpose so resolute not the Heavens themselves could bar it, a determination to save his precious people that could defy even this behemoth. He was in this moment more than any other the very embodiment of all that the village held dear, a living example of the Will of Fire.

The destroyer loomed great and terrible over the man, jaws agape, eyes burning like coals, with nine tails splayed out behind it. A force of nature bound in immortal flesh, a being of flame and fury that had never tasted defeat at the hands of man or demon for the creature had not been born that could match it's boundless power. From myth and legend it had emerged to trample the jeweled thrones of the world beneath it's bloody claws.

For all that Yondaime paid it little heed at this moment as he only had eyes for the sweet angel held in his arms only hours free from the womb that given life to him in exchange for it's own. The soft light of Tsukyomi painted the child's delicate features in a mask of peace revealing how very much he resembled the man who held him. A shock of yellow hair… the high cheekbones… and finally the eyes, the same fierce cerulean shade as his father's. On the child's stomach lay a pattern drawn in ink, a seal that would end the threat to the village for all time but at such a price…

A moment he smiled down at his son but his voice was heavy "I am sorry my son for what I must do but I can ask no other to take your place. It is a father's fondest hope that their child will lead a happy life free from strife and I know that my very actions this night will end such hopes." Tears spilled down his face as he continued the words pulled from him by a pain no man should ever know "Forgive me, Naruto, and forgive me, Misako."

The beast oddly made no move towards his opponent as he cried. Never in all the ages of the world had it ever faced one with such a will and for the first time it knew fear. Cautiously it awaited the man's actions watching will all the intentness of a hawk upon it's prey.

Yondaime looked up from his son, eyes dry and hard, and spoke to the beast for the first time "Let us end this, demon."

And Kyuubi did something that he had never done in all the history of man – it replied. In a voice that shook the heavens and the earth it said "**Yes! Let us bring this to it's rightful end!**"

What happened next would resound throughout all the Shinobi Countries and it would be remembered that on this night, accompanied by the wails of the dying and the grieving, that Kazama Arashi did what no man could. He had slain a god at the cost of his own life and that of his newborn child. Using a seal that had been forbidden by all – the Shiki Fuujin – he took the Nine Tailed Fox with him to his grave.

An entire nation mourned his passing enshrining him with his wife and son. A symbol to the world of what it meant to be the Kage of a Hidden Village, of what it meant to be a hero. His memory became a torch with which the Leaf would banish the shadows and walk the path that he had forged but that was not his only legacy. For one other legacy had come from that night.

A legacy now held sleeping in the arms of the Shinigami that Arashi had summoned from the gloom of death itself. His name was one long since forgotten in the world's of the living but known throughout the lands of the dead. General Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai, Captain of the 1st Division of the Gotei 13. And the angel in his arms was none other than the late Naruto Uzumaki cursed now forever more.

"Grow strong and true. Carry on your father's will of fire." The old man whispered as he laid the hilt of Ryujin Jakka against Naruto's brow in the ancient art of the Soul Burial but he did not stop when he was gone. "But do not let your darkness consume you. For if it does I will slay you myself."

As the venerable Captain left a small broken object fell from his hand. A milky white mask of bone in the shape of a fox's head.

Author's Section:

I have 2 questions for all the readers who should Naruto be paired wth and what division should he be in? Let me know your thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

"Hey! Wait up, Renji-teme!"

The excited cry came from none other than the one and only most hyperactive knucklehead student in all of the Shinigami Academy – Naruto Uzumaki. Now, 24 years after his arrival in Soul Society, he looked more than ever the son of the late Kazama Arashi. A spiky crown of golden hair held in check by a simple headband of black…a youthful face more accustomed to joy than sorrow…muscle grown long and lean by years of swordplay…and azure eyes brilliant like sapphires in the midday sun. Only in clothing did he differ from his father for he wore something his father never intended for him to wear – the white gi and red hakama of a shinigami in training.

"Why should I, dobe? I'm not the one who left my zanpakuto in my room." Renji called back, glancing over his shoulder at his rapidly approaching friend.

His grin was answered with a flying kick – one he all to readily expected and sidestepped as if the whole thing had been choreographed before landing a single punch to the top of his shorter friend's head. A minute of hopping and curses followed – a scene witnessed frequently by those at the Academy.

"Damn it, Reji-teme! That hurt!"

Renji just shook his head before resuming his leisurely walk down the hallway with Naruto – no longer cursing – quickly falling in step beside him.

"What kind of exam do you think they're going to give us today?" the blond youth began speculating at high speeds and even higher levels of illogic. "It could be a Kido test or a strategy lesson or maybe we have to do something really dangerous like fight Zaraki or," he paused as if for dramatic effect "it could be a written test!"

The other shinigami just rolled his eyes.

"I bet that's it! They'll make us use our minds to pass!" Bright tears fell from Naruto's eyes as he envisioned the test to be taken and him failing it

"Baka." Renji spoke sharply "They don't tell you to bring your zanpakuto to a written exam. It's going to be a combat exercise."

Naruto stopped walking. When Renji turned a question on his lips Naruto leapt into in to the air cheering.

"A combat exercise! I am going to ace this exam!" the energetic student landed and gave a victory sign to Renji "Believe it!"

Renji Abarai had seen many a strange thing in his twenty plus years in Soul Society from marauding Hollows to Shinigami unleashing the power of their zanpakuto but nothing truly prepared him for the sight of Naruto Uzumaki giving him the victory sign with a freakishly large smile. It was almost creepy.

"Whatever." Renji sighed "Let's just get to the exam room. And Naruto?"

"Yeah, Renji?"

"Don't ever do that again."

The two young shinigami proceeded down the hallway accompanied only by the sounds of their footsteps and the unceasing flow of words from the mouth of Naruto till they stood before exam room number 6.

"I swear the two of you would be late to your own funerals." Izuru Kira joked, a minor noble that had passed through the six years of shinigami academy beside them. Next to him stood the beautiful but shy girl known as Momo Hinamori, another friend of many years.

"We'd have been on time if the baka hadn't forgotten his zanpakuto." The fire haired boy commented irritably.

Before Naruto got off even one of the curse that he had been thinking about hurling Hinamori already stood between the two of them and utilized the Kido the hot tempered youth feared above all others – Art of Binding 0, Puppy Dog Eyes. A most effective Kido in the hands of Momo Hinamori.

"Please calm down, Naruto. I'm sure he didn't mean to call you a baka. You're not even late. We should just get on with the exam, okay?" Under the influence of that most forbidden Kido Naruto found himself nodding and agreeing with her. Even with the part about Renji not meaning to call him a baka.

Renji and Kira sweatdropped but the moment ended quickly.

"What do you mean we're not late? You said the exam was at 9:00 A.M. and it's almost 10!" Renji yelled pointing at Kira who smiled in a very Naruto-like fashion.

"You guys are always late. I told you that the exam started an hour early."

As Renji and Naruto started for the noble the door opened. All four students found themselves staring at three shinigami.

The first one, a punkish looking youth with the number 69 tattooed on his left, was Shuehei Hisagi. His class' number one graduate and the senpai for all four of the students for the last six months. Next to him stood his longtime teammates the giant man known as Aoga and the always temperamental girl Kannisawa.

Hisagi wasted no time taking charge "Alright, students today we are going into the living world and will be facing real hollows." A murmur of excited trepidation echoed through the room "But this is not a game. Even though we will be there to evaluate your performance against the hollows and step in if it looks like you're going to die death is still a possibility today. Do. Not. Take. This. Lightly."

"I bet we have to step in to rescue the shrimp." Kannisawa commented from behind Hisagi drawing a charge from Naruto which Renji and Kira quickly stopped.

Shuehei rubbed the bridge of his nose as Aoga spoke "Now, Kannisawa. You should be nicer to them they're only kids."

A small roar of curses erupted from Naruto, Renji, and, shortly thereafter, Kannisawa as they threatened and challenged one another. One minute turned into two and two into three with Hisagi's face darkening with every passing second.

"Shut up!!" the head examiner yelled "You are all going to be quiet and take this exam or I will see to it personally that you receive a private combat lesson with Zaraki Kenpaichi!"

Silence fell over the room as the three stared at him in horror. That was the worst punishment ever conceived by Commander-General Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai in the two thousand year history of the academy. Everyone who had ever received that punishment had spent at least a week with the fourth division after that often under the personal care of Unohana Retsu.

Naruto broke the silence with a few words and his trademark fox's grin "Sorry, Hisagi-sensei. We'll behave won't we?"

Kannisawa and Renji could only nod their heads in agreement.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Hisagi drew his zanpakuto and held it before him, the blade jutting out parallel to the smooth marble floor. The air around his blade seem to shimmer and gain substance as if somehow heavier than it was a moment ago with his concentration. Suddenly he stabbed forward the blade _sinking into the air – disappearing in it like into the body of an enemy – _and twisted his wrists. From thin air it formed; first an outline with color and detail growing with every passing second till an old Japanese sliding door stood there.

Withdrawing his sword from the center of the door Hisagi turned to the openly staring students and spoke "I'm going through first. The four of you follow me. Aoga, Kannisawa, you guys bring up the rear."

Cautiously they did as they were told crossing over from the safety of Seiretei into the living world. Supple blades of grass bent beneath their sandals as they looked upon the forest that the senkaimon had sent them to. Oak and ash towered about the clearing with the woods caught full in the flush of spring. Underbrush thrummed and hummed with the hidden lives of the creatures that called this forest home. The scents of damp earth and wild flowers floated on the breeze marred only by the faint acrid tang of smoke. In the distance ramshackle wooden buildings showed just barely over the treetops.

Hisagi spoke without looking back "Zanpakuto at the ready. There are Hollows nearby."

The sharp hissing rasp cracked the still air as four swords left their sheathes clasped in shaking hands.

"How are we supposed to find them, Hisagi-sensei?" Naruto spoke softly for once eyes darting about the clearing.

Clasping his bared blade in his right hand Hisagi pulled a compact device of metal from his pocket "With this, Naruto. It's something new from the 12th Division. It let's us know when Soul Society detects Hollow activity in the area." He bent his head consulting it for a moment before gesturing with his zanpakuto towards the buildings in the distance "Got one."

Silently, for once, they traveled swiftly towards the settlement ahead each locked in their own version of the events to come…locked in visions of failure Kira blinked stinging drops of sweat from his brow…Hinamori fighting the nervous fluttering of her stomach with the fervent desire to show Shiro-chan how far she can go…Renji's hands tightening about the hilt of his blade in anticipation and trepidation…and, last of all, Naruto grinned foreseeing the day he finally became a shinigami.

The buildings revealed their ramshackle nature as they passed the borders of what used to be a thriving village but had long since gone to the dogs. Roofs and doors were broken scattered like a child's toys cast aside in a fit of anger. Gardens once fruitful bore up nothing now but dirt and ash. The place was a tomb.

"It's here somewhere. Stay together." Hisagi spoke quietly moving deeper into the village with slow deliberate steps.

Death gripped the village ever tighter as the moved towards the village's center. Entire houses lay in ruin gutted by fire and violence. Walls shattered and broken painted still with the blood of those who had called this place home. People who had lived here not long ago.

Naruto noticed it first.

"I can still smell the blood. This didn't happen that long ago."

"You're right. This isn't supposed to be like this." Hisagi looked down at the detector in his hands "But this is still reading the same hollow they detected yesterday and it wasn't strong enough to do all this. Something is seriously wrong here."

That was a close to a warning as they would ever get.

The hollow erupted from the earth beneath them in a heaving ground buckling surge flinging the would be shinigami aside and occupying the place where they had stood. It was a hulking monstrous thing three times the height of a man covered from the grinning skull of it's face to it's feet in black armored carapace. Almost as wide as it was tall the monster just stood there with it's talons buried just lightly within the ground.

"Now the exam can …" Hisagi began.

_"Exam? The shinigami seems to think this is some sort of test, eh Cameleon?" _the giant's voice escaped broken and scarred from it's mouth.

"_Indeed he does." _

The second voice – a hissing sibilant sound – came seemingly from the side of a building but the mystery did not last long as something began to take shape there in front of their very eyes. Cameleon was a hollow stretched long and lean with a long narrow mask extending nearly a foot above his head. Perched upon the wall like the lizard with which he shared a name he stared at the shinigami with undisguised hunger. His eyes flickered over the seven present before settling on Naruto.

"_You can have the others but this one is mine."_

A grating noise escaped the giant as it straightened to it's full height "_Alright but I get the next strong one."_

Without words the four would be shinigami brought their zanpakuto up before them and stood by each other's sides as the giant stormed forward unheeding of the naked steel in their hands. Renji and Kira struck first leaping towards the charging creature and bringing their Shihouin forged blades down upon it only to have them careen off the black carapace with not a wound to show for it. The hollow didn't even slow down and drove it's massive shoulders into them with the force of an avalanche hurling them back into the already ruined buildings in an explosion of splintered wood and dust. It's momentum carried straight towards Hinamori and Naruto who both readied themselves to strike but other things lay in store for one of them.

A tail lashed around the blondes stomach and drug him up and over the side of a ruined temple onto the roof. When he looked up Cameleon crouched there with his tail waving behind him all four slender limbs tensed to pounce or retreat without hesitation. Standing slowly he raised the blade up and pointed it at the hollow.

"You chose the wrong shinigami to mess with."

Those fighting below would not have recognized the Naruto that now faced Cameleon. Gone was the laughter and optimism that eternally lifted the hearts of those he knew and loved. In their place lay only a smoldering determination born out of words whispered in his dreams for as long as he could remember.

_Carry on your father's will of fire._

Without a single sound he lunged at the reptilian Hollow but met only air left in the wake of the creature's swift movements. For long seconds the youth attacked relentlessly but found only frustration as it leapt and danced away from him giving only a mocking grin before moving away once more. A dozen more attacks followed before Naruto fell back bleeding from a wound across his right thigh – three claw marks matching the still dripping talons of Cameleon.

"_You're too slow, shinigami."_

In response Naruto held his blade up in front of him across the length of his chest while his other hand formed a single seal of prayer as he spoke "You weigh the souls of humanity, Judicator, and separate the just from the wicked. None shall escape from justice. Binding Art number ten, Everlasting Grudge!"

Briefly the air around the youth shimmered under the noonday sun before the kido took effect. Cameleon, once so light and agile, trembled and strained to move as bands of reiastu wrapped about his limbs weighing him down with the weight of his sins. Before what had happened even had a chance to register Naruto landed his first blow severing the monster's left arm.

The Hollow screamed now and flailed out with it's tail catching his attacker driving him down through the temple's roof and crashing into the oaken floor below. A second later brought Cameleon hurtling towards the stunned youth a blade of bone extending from the forearm of his sole remaining arm. Just barely did Naruto parry the attack steel meeting bone in a thunderous concussion before being driven back against the temple's shrine by the force and weight of the blow. It pressed him there steel straining against inhuman bone, mask only inches from the youth's face.

_"That was a good trick, shinigami, but not good enough."_

Backed into a corner and desperation building fast Naruto Uzumaki did something he had never done in all his years. He let go.

**B-boom.**

**B-boom.**

**B-boom.**

A frozen second passed in which all that could be heard was a thrum like the beat of a heart, a singular beat that shook the hollow to it's very core. Face to face, the creature saw those great azure eyes darken and fail; ebony bled into the whites as the eyes itself became a sickly saffron.

"_Wh-what is this?"_

Naruto opened his mouth and screamed releasing the power coiling inside in a shockwave that shook the village. The Hollow's mask, too close to the source, shivered and cracked driving it back long enough for the shinigami's blade to shear through that mocking smile. As Cameleon broke apart the rage that had driven the young shinigami failed and recoiled within him.

"What the hell was that?" he whispered standing in the crumbled remnants of the temple – eyes blue once again – staring at the swiftly disappearing hollow.

But the moment of introspection did not last long as an explosion from outside brought him running. The village center had been completely decimated. Rubble and debris, smoke and flame alone made their homes here now. And there in the very center of the village where once a well had been lay the disintegrating corpse of the giant hollow surrounded by three very tired shinigami.

Renji, Kira, and Hinamori all leaned on their zanpakuto breathing heavily. All wore a cloak of blood, pain, and exhaustion but they also wore grim smiles. They had done it. They had defeated a hollow. Hisagi, Aoga, and Kannisawa watched with more than a hint of approval in their eyes but still they watched and waited.

Hisagi was the first to spot the bloodied and dirt ridden youth as he emerged from the ruins of the temple.

"Is the other one defeated? What was that reiatsu?"

His shout swiveled five sets of eyes towards Naruto who smiled and put one hand behind his head in trademark fashion. "Yeah. Sorry it took me so long."

The lack of response on the second question did not go unnoticed for long as Kannisawa stepped forward raising her fist "You didn't answer the second question, shrimp! What was that huge ass reiatsu…"

The question died as Hisagi held up a hand.

"We will worry about that later. It's time to head back to Soul Society. Shape up and return to the gateway." His tone gave away what his words had not – a creeping sense of unease.

Despite this the four students quickly took to laughing amongst themselves swapping tales of their bravery and feats of heroism. Tension eased and the hectic haze of battle lay almost forgotten in the tide of their growing cheer. Even Aoga and Kannisawa soon found themselves smiling lost in musings of their own exam. Shuehei Hisagi alone wore no smile for the subtle aroma of danger wafted still in dusty air and he was never one to forget that.

Almost to the edges of the deserted village a beep sounded from the device in the punkish shinigami's hand. His downward glance brought him to a sudden halt stunned at what he saw on the monitor. The others turned as he raised his head to scream for them to run but it was already too late.

The sky itself began to rip open in a dozen or more places and white masked monsters crossed over. Every shape and form that could be imagined – and some no sane could have dreamt of in their wildest nightmare – exited those portals. Some hopped on powerful legs, others slithered like snakes in the grass, others took to the earth digging with massive claws, and others flew on leathery wings all towards the small band of shinigami who stared unbelieving at the horrors. A wave of sussuring whispers escaped the malignant spirits, an almost unheard murmur of the hunger that drove them.

"We will hold the line. The four of you run for the gate." Shuehei Hisagi's voice held a bitter hard-edged calm echoed in the eyes of his friends Aoga and Kannisawa who stood beside him.

"But Hisagi-sensei..." Naruto began to protest stubbornly but was cut short.

"Go and retrieve help. That's an order!" their sensei roared eyes fixed steadily on the Hollows heading towards them.

Hinamori grabbed the blonde youths sleeve whilst running past him dragging him along with her. "You heard Hisagi-sensei, Naruto. Finding help is the only way we can help them."

Reluctantly, with one last glance at the three shinigami, he fell in line running behind her with both Renji and Kira keeping pace ahead. Never had they run so fast fear giving them wings it seemed with which to flee through the once friendly woods now a home to dark visitors. All life had fled the forest, the animals sensing what humanity could not – that death had come to their precious home this day. The only sounds lay in their own harsh breathing and the furious cries of battle behind them driving them ever faster towards their goal. And then barely a minute after the arrival of the new hollows they returned to the clearing holding the gate.

And it was not alone.

Wolf-like the hollow appeared with a long lupine mask peering out from a mass of rusty fur that rolled down the arched and supple spine of the crouching monster. On all fours it waited tongue lolling from it's jaws watching them with eyes of saffron on black. Twice their height it stood even bent in half as it was but behind it could be seen the gateway.

_"I thought that only the weak ones would come running for home but it seems that I am going to be eating well tonight."_ It giggled in an empty echoing way of speaking.

But what happened next was not in it's plans either.

It crouched preparing to spring only seconds prior to the thin tip of a blade tearing through the back of it's head and out through the mask. Purified it disintegrated revealing the shinigami standing in the open gateway still holding the zanpakuto that had ended the monsters suffering a vulpine smile hovering beneath slitted eyes and a mop of violet touched silver hair.

"Gin Ichimaru." Kira whispered in soft awed tones "Lieutenant of the 5th Division."

Gin stepped forward filling the spot where the hollow had stood allowing another to exit the gateway. This one wore a reassuring smile beneath his bookish glasses seemingly inoffensive but there was no mistaking the symbol worn on his sleeve – four cherry blossoms hanging form a branch. The symbol of the 5th Division. One worn only by the captain. Sosuke Aizen.

"Gin, it seems we have arrived just in time." Aizen's manner of speech was as softly comforting as everything else about him.

The lieutenant just smiled sending a shiver through the four but having no effect on Aizen who approached the four with gently spoken commands. "The four of you remain here. Gin and I will see to the hollows. Everything will be fine."

With not another word they left in blurring out of sight with the use of shunpo leaving four very drained would be shinigami standing about the gate. Silence reigned over them as they listened to the sounds of battle slowly ceasing in the distance in such a manner that even they could tell that Aizen and Gin would soon be victorious.

"Wow. Can you believe how amazing Aizen-sama is?" Hinamori spoke breaking the spell that had lain over them.

Naruto and Renji nodded their agreement, they had never met anyone who had given off that kind of calm confidence.

"Gin was pretty spectacular too." Only Kira voice these words.

Long minutes later Aizen and Gin returned with Hisagi at their side though he alone carried the still bloody forms of Aoga and Kannisawa. Head hung low sanguine tears dripped from his right eye mingling with the salty tears falling from his left eyes.

None of them spoke as they all trudged through the gateway nor did they start once it closed behind them wrapping them once again the safety of Seiretei.

Aizen spoke a few words to Hisagi as he knelt beside the bodies of his friends too quietly for any other to hear but the man nodded and lifted his head some of the burden eased. Done there he turned to the four and spoke.

"Remember this day and know why you fight the hollows. They are instinct and hunger incarnate, driven always by the darkest of humanity's urges. It is because of them that two shinigami have fallen this day not through any fault of those here. They gave their lives so that you may live and carry on the fight and bring purification to all hollows." His words rang in their ears and their hearts, pointed reminders of the duty they had sworn to uphold the day they entered the academy. "Go now to the 4th Division and rest. Grief is as much a wound as any cut. You as well, Hisagi. Gin and I will wait here till others come for them."

Hisagi rose up and joined the four subdued youths as they followed Aizen's orders. None of them heard the Captain's true comments.

"We must keep an eye on those four. They could be useful."

Author's note:

First off I want to thank everyone who reviewed and contacted me over this story. I am truly amazed at the response my short little prologue received. Secondly I want to apologize for the delay in getting this out. My girlfriend decided I should spend sometime working on my novel. I also kind of feel that ending came off kind of weird here. Let me know if it's just me or what. I'll re-write the ending if it comes to that.

Thank you all very much.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes:

I must admit I am overwhelmed with the enthusiastic support my story has received and I thank you all. There is nothing I love more than hearing that someone has enjoyed my writing. Keeping up the response is the best way to keep me writing this thing. I have ADHD and the reviews get my attention .

Now I am going to lay out a couple of polls so that I can hear what you all really want. The first poll concerns what Division he will eventually end up in. The following are in the running.

1st Division under Yamamoto

8th Division under Kyoraku

11th Division under Zaraki

12th Division under Urahara

13th Division under Ukitake

Before anyone replies with torches and pitchforks let me lay out my reasons. I don't like the 2nd Division for Naruto as he is the least ninja-like ninja ever – seriously how many ninjas where kill me orange? – and the 3rd Division is currently captain less is the wake of the Baisshin incident of several hundred years ago. Naruto definitely doesn't belong in the 4th Division and the 5th has it's own place in the story. The 6th is out because Naruto would die if he had to work for Neji…Byakuya. 9th and 10th Division both have their own places in the story while I simply don't find the 7th Division interesting enough. So please forgive me if that excludes some desired situations.

Now on to poll number two: the romantic pairing! There will be no further Naruto characters in the story beyond Naruto, Kyuubi, and the Yondaime. Maybe one other but that's it. Sorry.

Naruto/Matsumoto

Naruto/Hinamori

Naruto/Kukaku Shiba

Naruto/Nanao Ise

Naruto/Isane Kotetsu

Naruto/write in

If the last option is chosen please keep the following in mind. 1. No further Naruto characters 2. For the love of God do not say Yachiru as this idea will cause blood to spurt out of my nose.

And finally to clear up a few things. Naruto is most definitely deceased, dead, singing with the choir invisible, and no longer living or to say that his biological processes are of interest only to historians. The world of Naruto is not the one that Soul Society normally polices this dichotomy will be explained further along in the story. Also this story is set nearly 130 years prior to the current Bleach storyline…well at least it starts out that way but who knows when it will end?

And I apologize to all my readers about how long it took me to get this chapter out. The laptop I was using crapped out on me and thus left me with only the library to check my e-mail and do other minor things. Things have changed now in that I have an internet connection that is – at least somewhat - reliable so expect the following chapters to come out a little more quickly.

Once again thank you all – both for the reviews and reading this retardedly long author's note. Now on to the story.

Chapter 2

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Silent, the village of Konohagakure rose about the wondering form of Naruto Uzumaki who strode now over the very streets that had witnessed his birth and death a quarter of a century ago. Down empty streets he walked watching the passing buildings with a child's interest – a flower shop sitting silent waiting for customers who would never come, a ramen shop on the corner closed now but with the faint scent of it's goods lingering in the air, sadly a school sat ever alert for the laughter of students, a monument covered with the graven names of heroes who's deeds lay unsung in this place, and most magnificent of all was the mountain. Four busts had been carved into the living stone of that sheltered the village – the images of the greatest heroes this town had ever known.

But none of these sights however wondrous in their melancholy way could hold the young shinigami's attention for long. Ahead a reiatsu beckoned, calling him to it's presence, a reiatsu greater than anything that he had ever known. Towards the heart of the village his feet carried him drawn to a place where once a great tower stood but now was only a great opening leading down into the earth. Without a backward glance he entered finding himself standing calf deep in a sewer that flowed towards the power he had felt. Heedless he walked feeling the air grow heavy accompanied by the sound of breathing like the blast of the Shihouin forge bellows. What awaited him at the end was beyond his expectations.

Behind bars of steel as thick as a man's thigh waited a nightmare given form – a great fox that glared at the youth with tine tails fanning out behind him. Glittering ruby eyes burned with the hate only a true demon can ever know as it threw back it's head and howled. Stone cracked and metal groaned from the force of the caged demon's rage as it's tails lashed out at the walls of it's prison thundering against them with the force of an avalanche.

Naruto found himself on his knees in the water, driven there by the very weight of the monster's power. Sweat dripped from his brow as he struggled to stand up unwilling to back down even from such a monster. A long minute of struggle found the golden haired youth standing with his hands clenched at his sides and a determined gleam in his eye.

"Good for you, boy. There are few who can stand in the presence of the Kyuubi no Kitsune especially when it's angry."

Turning Naruto saw the speaker – an old man had emerged from the tunnel behind him but he was definitely no ordinary man. No hint of face or limb could be seen under the tattered windswept streamers of white cloth that surrounded the old man. Indeed the only thing that marked him as old was the timber of his voice.

"Hey, old man. What is this place? Who are you? And what the hell is a Kyuubi no whatever you called it?" by the end Naruto's nature had reasserted itself in that it was both loud and disrespectful.

But the old man merely chuckled before speaking. "This …is a memory. A frozen image of a place held here in your mind. Nothing more and nothing less."

"Who's memory?!" Naruto blurted out his eyes never leaving the furious form of the great demon.

"That's a good question, Naruto, but unimportant right now. Or don't you want to know what he is?" the old man spoke almost mockingly as he gestured at Kyuubi and continuing when the dumbfounded youth nodded. "This is the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Called a demon by the peoples of the world but it is more than that. One of the nine greatest hollows ever to escape from Hueco Mundo. Tell me, boy, do you know what a Vasto Lorde is?"

An abrupt hush fell over the room as the Kyuubi went silent watching now the old man intently. Something like recognition roiled behind it's eyes or perhaps it was excitement that lit up it's eyes.

"Vasto Lorde?" Naruto asked in whispered tones.

The old man glided forward unimpeded by his seeming age to stand directly before the bars of the cage. A long moment passed with only his hand caressing the steel shafts separating him from the demon within. When he spoke again it was with an odd subdued tone.

"Learn what it means. Today was only the beginning. They will come for you. You showed yourself to them today and when they come we must be ready." The old man turned his wrapped face towards Naruto but somehow he still seemed to be smiling. "But you are not alone in this, Naruto Uzumaki. Learn my name and I will be your right hand - your sword."

Before Naruto could ask any one of the thousand questions that danced now through the corridors of his mind another figure appeared just behind the old man but where as the old man was wrapped in tattered white this one wore tattered yellow but he stood unbent by the passage of time.

His voice clear and strong brooked no argument. "You must go now, Naruto. Do not worry about the Kyuubi we will keep him bound. Grow strong and return to us. Go. Now."

Even as the new figure spoke Naruto faded away like a midsummer night'_s_ dream in the morning light but he finished his thoughts despite that the one it was meant for could no longer hear it.

"Till next we meet, my son."

**Seiretei**

**4****th**** Division HQ**

"So, you're finally awake."

Naruto Uzumaki's eyes – open only a few seconds – focused blurrily on the red haired man seated next to his hospital bed as he struggled to an upright position. The thin linen sheet that had covered him slid down revealing the bandages wrapped about various places on his body.

"You sleep too much, teme." Renji Abarai said with the faint twitches of a grin.

The blonde haired youth rubbed the back of his neck as he replied "I guess I overdid it a little yesterday."

Renji just shook his head and sat back in his chair wearing clothing most similar to the ones he had worn the day before. Beside him – to his left - sat his zanpakuto a nameless but almost palpable presence in the room. And to his right sat the wholly unremarkable zanpakuto - save for the crossguard which bore the form of a spiral or whirlpool - of the newly awakened shinigami.

"How long have I been out?"

His friend snorted. "Long enough that everybody in the academy knows something about what happened on the exam. Some say that we can barely beat a Hollow. Others have said that someone must have set off Hollow Bait. While a few have even brought Vasto Lordes into it."

Naruto's head whipped around in poorly hidden surprise. "What's a Vasto Lorde?"

"You never studied did you?" Renji asked but got no response from his friend. "A Vasto Lorde is the rarest and most powerful form of Hollow. It's said that their as strong as a Captain or maybe even stronger."

His thoughts awhirl Naruto dropped his head focused on the old man from his dreams words to him. _You showed yourself to them today. They will come for you. _What did it mean? The thoughts would have continued but for the next two words that fell from Renji's lips.

"Rukia's gone."

"What!" The word erupting from Naruto as he started from his introspective state. "What do you mean gone?!"

For once the ever fiery shinigami seemed at a loss for words but after a moment of struggle he began to speak. "She's been adopted into House Kuchiki. Her training and future lies with the nobility."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed several times as if trying to speak another language but finally let loose two word. "When? How?"

"It was just before I decided to come here. I went to tell Rukia that we had passed and see if she wanted to come visit you with me but when I opened the door to her room there they stood. The elders of House Kuchiki including _him_." His voice dropped lower awed even in memory of that man. "Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of the 6th Division. When he passed by me I…I…I've never felt anything like his reiatsu. He could crush me like a fly and he paid me as much attention as a fly when he left. After they all left she told me what they had done. She is now the newest member of House Kuchiki, Rukia Kuchiki."

Confusion wracked Naruto's next words. "So…how does that make her gone? She's just got a better room and a rich family now. Hell, Kira's a nobleman but we don't hold that against him!"

Renji sighed. "It doesn't work that way. Not with House Kuchiki. If you're not of noble blood you might as well not exist."

"They sound like assholes."

"Baka." The red haired shinigami growled. "Of course they're assholes. They're nobles but they can make our lives and hers a living hell if we piss them off."

Naruto swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed his kimono from the end of the bed. "So what. Do you remember the day we all decided to become shinigami? Standing over the graves of our friends?"

The fell silent for a minute with the only sound being the soft rush of air through the ducts and the faint clatter of footfalls from beyond the rooms single door.

"Yeah. I remember, Naruto."

Cinching is kimono closed he paused and looked at Renji, cerulean eyes piercing. "All three of us vowed to stand by each other and to never let a friend die. Are we just going to let her go?"

A hint of a grin returned to Renji's face. "No but we're going to have to become strong enough that even the noble's can't say anything."

An answering grin spread across the still dressing shinigami's features. "Baka. I planned on doing that anyway."

"Well, it's good to see both of you in such high spirits."

The speaker, a youthful seeming woman with short cropped silver hair and dressed in shinigami uniform, stood in the doorway watching the two of them. Only a brief gleaming twinkle in her betrayed her amusement.

"Hey, Isane-chan!" the words had hardly left Naruto's mouth before Renji hit him upside the head. "Ow! What the hell was that for, teme?!"

"You don't just talk to a lieutenant that way? Don't you know who she is?"

Naruto glanced up at the woman in the doorway. "Lieutenant? I just thought she was another nurse."

It should be noted that on this day in Seiretei a strange grinding noise was reported by all from the least academy student to even Zaraki himself but to this day only one shinigami knows the truth of that sound. Isane Kotetsu, Lieutenant of the 4th Division, who ended the horrific noise with but a single command.

"Renji, it's not good to grind your teeth."

With that the noise subsided in a soft series of invectives many which seemed to be directed at his clueless friend who still had not truly recognized their visitor.

"Hey, Renji. What's your problem?"

Before the tattooed youth could attempt murder Isane stepped in. "Naruto, it's time for me to check your bandages. Off with the shirt."

After dutifully removing the kimono he had just recently put back on she proceeded to pull back the bandages and discovered something quite surprising. "What?!

"What is it?!" Naruto cried trying to see the astonishing sight she beheld but could see only unblemished skin.

The lieutenant's chocolate gaze met Naruto's wonderingly. "Your wounds…they've already healed. It's like they never were."

The blonde youth just flashed his trademark smile and blithely quipped. "I always was a fast healer."

Sweatdrop.

"Be that as it may, Naruto." Isane spoke gesturing for him to put his shirt back on "No one recovers from the kind of bruising you had in only a day. I'm going to have to talk to Captain Retsu about this but that is neither here nor there. The two of you have to go meet with Hisagi. He's waiting just beyond the training fields beneath the sakura trees."

"What's he waiting for?" Renji asked before Isane could get out the door.

She glanced back an odd look in her eyes. "A chance to say goodbye."

The young shinigami shared a look and quickly left. What else could they do? After all, it's a shinigami's duty to stand watch over the dead.

"I just keep practicing saying goodbye to you."

Shuehei Hisagi's words hung heavy in the still midday air ridden by tensions none there dared name. The man himself stood before two freshly dug graves sitting to either side of the roots of the sakura tree, bandages still clinging to the right side of his face.

Behind him stood four others: the golden haired Naruto Uzumaki, the tattooed and restless Renji Abarai, the young nobleman Izuru Kira, and the weeping form of Momo Hinamori.

"It's hard to believe you guys are gone but I won't let it stop me. You wouldn't want that."

Only the light sobs of Hinamori and the brief stuttered caress of the wind sounded in the solemn quiet that had overtaken their corner of the world. Tears glimmered in every eye like liquid jewels waiting for but a moment's breath to become solid.

"I'll follow the path we set out on till I fall. My blade will be wielded only in the name of peace."

With those words Shuehei Hisagi turned away from the graves of his friends to face the four who stood behind him.

"Thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me and it would to Aoga and Kannisawa as well." He took a deep breath before speaking again. "We went through a trial by fire yesterday and we were burned. Now we have two choices: break or temper. Do we let it tear us down or do we use it to grow stronger?"

Naruto spoke softly for once in his life. "I didn't know them very well but they died to protect us – to give us a chance to grow stronger and protect others. That has been my goal all along and this hasn't changed that. That's my way of the shinigami."

"For once the baka's right." The crimson haired shinigami said but his word's lacked any real sting as he looked up at the sky. "We can't save everyone but we can give it our all trying. We'll grow strong – strong enough to protect instead of being protected. Right guys?"

Kira and Hinamori spoke in unison. "Hai!"

Hisagi stood there a moment with his head bowed till a single glittering tear fell to the grass below and he looked up but what he saw stopped him from speaking. The others turned and stopped just as quickly.

Before them stood a tall blonde haired shinigami draped in the black and white haori of a captain. Urahara Kisuke. Captain of the 12th Division.

"Forgive my intrusion but I wished to pay my respects as well." The usually jovial tones of the carefree Captain were not in evidence this day replaced by sadness. "It is the least I can do."

Hisagi nodded dumbly and let the Captain pass. Urahara knelt before the freshly dug graves and prayed almost silently leaving only the faint hint of whispers to reach their ears. A minute more and he rose bowing to the graves before turning towards them again.

"I must apologize to you all about the failure of my equipment. It is my fault but it will not happen again. This I vow." Regret burned in his words. Regret and shame. This is not a man used to failure. "But I do have some ideas about what happened that I will gladly share with all of you when I have some evidence."

Each shinigami there spoke their forgiveness of the sincere Captain from Hisagi's simple nod to Naruto & Renji's dismissal of his guilt to Hinamori's tearful forgiveness to Kira's formal acceptance of his apology.

But the moment did not last long as Urahara held up his hand.

"I hate to be the one to say this but it is time for the graduation ceremony and I would not have you all be late." The group unhurriedly began to disperse with Hisagi and Naruto being the last but the Captain spoke up once more. "Naruto, may I have a word?"

The golden haired youth gave him a weird look before bidding Hisagi to go on without him.

"What do you want to talk about, Kisuke-taichou?"

Urahara's eyes seem to sharpen as he looked at the soon to be shinigami. "Your friends don't know where that reiatsu came from yesterday, do they?" Naruto stiffened but he continued without missing a beat. "After all, why would they link you to such a massive reiatsu? But don't worry, Uzumaki-san, I won't tell them. Instead I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" Even now though Naruto's voice held no suspicion just a thinly veiled excitement.

"Train with me."

"Nani!" The youth cried out bringing a smile to the Captain's face.

"Train with me. Together we can determine the source of that power and bring it under your control." Naruto's cry of excitement was all the answer Urahara needed. "Now go, Uzumaki-san. We'll figure out the details another time. Go and enjoy this first night of being a shinigami."

With that the youth took off with a shouted farewell leaving the Captain alone beneath the sakura trees.

"There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from but the consciousness of duty disregarded." Yamamoto Shigekuni-Genryusai's words echoed down from the stage on which he stood staring out at the newly graduated shinigami. "A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent, like the Creator. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the seas, duty performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us. We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at its close, and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity which lies yet further onward we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the consciousness of duty, to pain us wherever it has been violated, and to console us so far as God may have given us grace to perform it."

For a long moment Genryusai said nothing letting his words sink in waiting patiently as a stone.

"Let us not forget the sacrifices already wrought nor the ones yet to be made but still you should be proud. Many souls never take the step that you have this day." A sepulchre quiet lay over the room as each took in his words. "Today we honor those who have fallen and those who step up now to take continue the work they started. Shuhei Hisagi, please come here."

A single figure rose from the front of the audience and made his way on stage. The somber young shinigami dropped to one knee before the Captain-General his zanpakuto sheathed at his side. Genryusai placed a hand on the kneeling figure's shoulder in almost fatherly fashion before continuing.

"Shuhei Hisagi, for the bravery of your actions and the skill that you have shown, I hereby name you the 7th seat of the 9th Division. Take pride in this fact. Aoga and Kannisawa would." The old man's voice was gentle. "Rare is it that a student graduates to a seated position in the Gotei 13 and let us celebrate this event. Go now, all of you. Discover your place within Seiretei. For tomorrow…the real work begins."

With that the old man just turned and made his way off the stage. On the stage Hisagi still kneeled but the class did not remain long in their seats as they swarmed the new 7th seat in a storm of congratulations and condolences.

Soon a buzzing cloud of noise overtook the hall as each shinigami there wondered aloud at the reality of being a shinigami, the honor of Hisagi's appointment, and – loudest of all – what division they would be placed with but four shinigami did not wonder. These four – Renji Abarai, Momo Hinamori, Izuru Kira, and Naruto Uzumaki – all stared at the messages left by the hell butterflys that had just landed there. All of which read the same thing.

_Welcome to the 5__th__ Division._

_Sosuke Aizen, Captain of the 5__th__ Division_

Author's Note: Keep voting for Division as Naruto will not stay there long for story reasons. And here's the current votes.

1st Division 1

8th Division 1

11th Division 4

13th Division 2

Yoruichi 7

Matsumoto 4

Soi Fong 8

Shiba Kukkaku 1

Hinamori 2


End file.
